STATE HOUSE ROUNDUP -- The alleged sins of the husband

The national sexual harassment scandal got a face in Massachusetts last week -- the face of Senate President Stanley Rosenberg's husband.

All other dealings on Beacon Hill last week got blocked out like an eclipse by the bombshell report in the Boston Globe that Rosenberg's husband-of-one-year Bryon Hefner had allegedly sexually assaulted at least four men.

Three of those men, who all work in the political arena and shared their stories anonymously, claim that Hefner grabbed their genitals in social settings, sometimes with the Senate president mere feet away. Another alleged that Hefner forcibly kissed him as he bragged about the clout he wielded over a legislative body for which he didn't work and never served.

On Dec. 4, Rosenberg announced he would step down as leader of the Senate for the duration of the investigation, and the Senate adopted an order accepting the offer that night. Senators then elected Majority Leader Harriette Chandler of Worcester to serve as acting president by a 31-6 vote.

Rosenberg, in a letter that was shared with members of his leadership team at morning meeting, said he intended to take a "leave of absence as your president, effective immediately" for as long as the investigation lasts.

"I believe this is in the best interests of the Senate. I want to ensure that the investigation is fully independent and credible, and that anyone who wishes to come forward will feel confident that there will be no retaliation," Rosenberg wrote in the letter, which was shared with the News Service by someone who had received it.

Gov. Charlie Baker, who has worked closely with Rosenberg for years, was the first to call for a full investigation hours after the story broke, but he was followed by others, including Rosenberg himself, who gave his blessing for Chandler and Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr to spearhead a full probe that Rosenberg will recuse himself from.

Tarr said the Senate investigation should "take as long as it takes," signaling a potentially long period of uncertainty in the Senate about the outcome of the probe, leadership considerations, and impacts on the policy agenda of Democratic House and Senate leaders.

Rosenberg seemed to be clinging to the edge of a cliff Dec. 1 as staff, Chandler and Tarr huddled in the office next to the president's hashing out a plan to bring on a special investigator to look into the allegations against Hefner, including impacts on Senate operations.

Visibly shaken by the allegations against his husband, Rosenberg faced the cameras roughly 24 hours after his husband's alleged transgression were put on public display in what Rosenberg called the "most-difficult time" in his political and personal life.

Rosenberg announced in a prepared statement that Hefner would be seeking in-patient treatment for alcohol dependence, and he encouraged anyone with a story to tell to come forward without fear of retribution. The Globe reported the four men were still not ready to take that step, but the door has been opened.

Rosenberg also said he was confident the investigation would show that Hefner had no influence over Senate business.

"If Bryon claimed to have influence over my decisions or over the Senate, he should not have said that. It is simply not true," Rosenberg said.

The first, and so far only, two to call outright for Rosenberg to resign or step aside as Senate president were Republican candidates for office. U.S. Senate candidate John Kingston and state Senate candidate Dean Tran both went there Nov. 30, while the Democrats running for governor remained silent.

The MassGOP followed up Dec. 1 with blast emails to local media posing a series of questions that Democratic senators should answer, the first being, "Do you still do you still have confidence in him and his leadership of the chamber?" The party also suggested that Rosenberg's claims of being unaware of his husband's alleged behavior were "dubious."

"Democrat senators have questions to answer about the Senate president's leadership -- given that they have the ability to determine his future. The MassGOP is committed to holding these Democrats accountable on behalf of voters, who deserve answers," MassGOP spokesman Terry MacCormack said.

The building may have been lousy with rumors of succession planning and senators angling to fill the void if and when Rosenberg were to step aside, but those senators were adamantly denying the water-cooler talk ... for now. Succession talk is not a topic lawmakers usually like to go public with -- loyalty playing the role that it does in politics -- but there's a time and a place for everything and senators appeared to be struggling with that question.

Buried underneath the pile of sexual assault allegations at the end of the week were the developments of Nov 27 and 28.

Baker and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito chose last week to make their re-election campaign official.

While it may not have been earth-shattering news to the "tell-me-something-I-don't-know" crowd eager to dismiss the development, the fact that Baker's bid for a second term was expected misses the point.

It's true that Baker has been fundraising like a politician determined to keep his seat and the launch of the re-election campaign was more a matter of when, not if, but he still had to say the words, and he did so at the Table Talk Pie factory in Worcester.

The launch also coincides with the Baker-Polito team signing up for new lease space on a headquarters in Allston with MassGOP Executive Director Brian Wynne expected to transition beginning this week to his new role as campaign manager. As the Baker-Polito re-election team grows in the coming months, senior advisor Jim Conroy said Baker will remain focused on his official duties. Eventually, the governor will have to make a clear case for re-election.

The campaign team plans to slowly ramp the governor up into campaign mode, not seeing the need right now to launch a full-scale campaign that would also give oxygen to his Democratic rivals. That day is coming though, and the mere existence of the re-elect campaign will facilitate more engagement between the governor and those looking to take his job away.

The race for governor may have been expected, but a Democratic primary for secretary of state? Bill Galvin will have held that title for 24 years when his name goes on the ballot next September, and Boston City Councilor Josh Zakim thinks that's enough time.

Zakim, a 33-year-old attorney who has served on the council since 2013, launched his campaign for secretary of state last week, offering what he described as "new ways of doing things."

The Back Bay resident, whose father's name adorns the bridge leading into Boston, supports same-day and automatic voter registration, and said he was particularly troubled by Galvin's decision to fight a Superior Court ruling that knocked down the state's requirement that voters be registered at least 20 days prior to an election in order to participate.

The first hurdle Zakim may have to clear, however, is getting Galvin to engage at all. The secretary has made an electoral career of ignoring his opponents, shunning debates and easily sliding back into office cycle after cycle.

For Zakim to have a chance, it would seem he would first have to crack that wall.

-- Michael P. Norton, Katie Lannan and Colin A. Young of State House News Service contributed to this column.

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